Franzen

Strikingly unique, if poorly-balanced, micro-RPG that has a surprisingly generous amount of content, some of which is even optional and missable, for a free RPG Maker game, with just enough substance to it that I would have paid a couple dollars for the experience easily. The solo-dev is well-known for a very specific bio-mechanical aesthetic, somewhere between what you'd expect visually from the works of H.R. Giger or Zdzisław Beksiński, and this graphical vehicle for the mechanical content of the game is admittedly probably its strongest aspect; the above-average narrative and superficial skill/stat progression both dramatically overshadowed by the design philosophy evident in the appearance of your party members, enemies, setdressing, and environments, all very alien and almost uncomfortably-gritty (insofar as pixel-graphics can portray) when compared to the usual high-fantasy that tends to oversaturate this specific genre of tiny indie game. A full playthrough has mostly served to strongly recommend the dev's other projects to me, free ones and otherwise, and endeared me to the possibility of a more-developed iteration of the same JRPG-esc formula with this stand-out artistic style.

This is quite possibly the best game I've ever played. The art style is amazing, the music is great, the story is very good and the lore is plentiful and high quality. I only had to grind once, and it only lasted 3 or 4 whole battles. this is the only game where I have felt sad after beating it. I've fallen in love with the main cast, they're characterization is great. they actually feel alive in this world. If you like RPGs, I can't recommend this game enough. 11/10, will play again. EDIT: This is the only game I've played where I'm complaining it was free cause I wanna pay money for it cause of how much I enjoyed it.